Lockdown lift: Your life is in your hands, literally

Monday May 4 was a watershed for millions of Nigerians trapped in a lockdown against coronavirus pandemic.

Once again, many would get the freedoms denied them for almost five weeks.

Workers have been under “stay at home” orders, businesses categorised as “non-essential” have shut and families dependent on daily wage to put food on their table have felt the pinch more than any other category of Nigerians.

The government has been under pressure to lift the lockdown.

In finally doing so, it drew up measures for a gradual easing that will span six weeks: every two weeks the impact of a lift will be reviewed and the restrictions adjusted accordingly.

The lift is a middle ground between preserving lives and preserving livelihoods.

By April 1, Nigeria had 174 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

That was at the start of the lockdown, declared to trace some 5,000 people mostly scattered through Lagos, Abuja and Ogun.

One month through the lockdown, 2,170 cases have been confirmed, nearly a 2,000-point margin in a month.

Misunderstood

The public doesn’t understand why cases are rising if the lockdown was imposed to keep people in place and curb the spread of coronavirus.

What the public also doesn’t understand is that even before the lockdown, thousands of people have travelled from and to the mentioned three locations.

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Initially, transmission was limited, mostly among direct contacts of people with recent travel history to countries where the virus was already being transmitted.

That changed after the virus entered Nigeria. Travellers and potential contacts weren’t limited to the commercial centres in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun.

They had also travelled further afield across the country, even Kano.

Experts believe some infected individuals may have slipped through to other parts of the country well before the Italian would later become the index case on record.

The lockdown was to keep people in place, keep roads open so tracers can move around and samples can easily be transported.

Combing for the contacts throughout the lockdown has shown how difficult contact tracing is.

The taskforce on Covid-19 in Edo discovered how many people who travelled by road either filled either a made-up name or address on the passenger manifest.

While the lockdown lasted, the mantra to know Nigeria’s actual burden was “test, test, test”.

The virus had moved beyond something associated with people with recent international travel history. It had reached the phase of community transmission.

The number of centres capable of running molecular diagnostics test for coronavirus increased to double digits, testing capacity ramped up to 1,500 a day. And now cases jumped. Every night the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control posted updates. New cases rose daily from single to double and triple digits.

“As the incidence of the COVID-19 hits the 2000th mark by this weekend just seven days after hitting the 1000th mark, it figuratively tilts the epidemiological curve towards an upward spike,” said Francis Faduyile, president of the Nigeria Medical Association.

“More so, the revelation by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that the nation lacks for bed spaces in Lagos worsens this frightening scenario.

“The confusing situation in Kano is neither unravelled nor resolved. At the same time, some States continue to live in the delusion of zero COVID-19 incidences.”

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The first 14-day lockdown wasn’t enough time. It was extended for another 14 days, and then an extra week.

Palliatives were promised to vulnerable and poor, but there are millions who would need it, and the government can hardly afford to gift every home.

Considering a lift so people can move around and putting in place measures to curb the spread has achieved that.

But it also amounts to putting people in charge of their lives, their actions and the consequences.

It is now up to individuals to be sure to wear a face mask, wash their hands, clean surfaces, observe social distancing—and be responsible entirely for whether they get infected or not, whether they live or die.

Premature

Many argue against easing the lockdown just yet. They point to countries where restrictions have been eased only for new waves of infections to emerge.

The easing of the lockdown “even in phases is very premature”, said the Nigeria Medical Association.

“Nigeria should learn from her neighbour Ghana where the same action produced a 100% increase in infection rate in just a week.

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“Instead, the Association believes that agencies of State should intensify efforts through mass enlightenment campaigns beyond current attempts to explain the dangers inherent in easing the lockdown prematurely in the face of rising infection rates; and also for the palliatives to reach the needy.”

Early Monday morning, a clip went viral social media, showing hundreds of people crammed in front of a bank in Lagos. Some had face masks on, and there certainly no space to keep them two metres apart.

Then another emerged of a bank in Abuja—same picture.

“Today, some of the measures have been abused. Initial reports are not too pleasing across the country and this is to join both the Secretary of the Federal Government and the honourable minister to really appeal to everyone across the country,” NCDC director-general Chikwe Ihekweazu said at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19

“When we say ‘take responsibility,’ yes, we are addressing individuals, but we really need to address corporate Nigerians.

“One of the biggest groups that were allowed to restart business today was banks. But many banks have limited the number of branches that are opened.

“When you limit the number of branches that open, everybody goes to the one branch that is open, and that becomes counter-productive.

“So, there is only so much we can do. We can produce all the guidelines in the world, we can preach, attend TVs, we can do press conferences, if organizations are not going to come up and support the implementation of these measures and help us manage the risks, and focus on a risk-based approach, how do we want to manage and mitigate the risk of exposure, the risk of transmission in every group?

“Today, we might forgive a little bit because it was the first day. We will have infections because of what happened today, no doubt about that.

“But how can we learn from the mistakes of today?”

Two weeks from Monday the taskforce will review the impact of the “gradual easing of lockdown”.

It will also determine the fate of millions of Nigerians.